Chapter Text
It was Taylor's first time at a lesbian bar. There weren't many places like this left in Brockton Bay, unfortunately, the E88 had made it difficult. It had taken her a while to find a place that would work.
It was necessary though. After Lisa had a frank conversation with her, Taylor had been forced to confront the possibility that she might, possibly, not necessarily be quite as straight as she'd previously assumed.
After some anxious introspection, and considering her old relationship with Emma in a new light... well. She had decided that at the very least, she needed to be sure before she ruled it out. So she'd asked Lisa to help her with a fake ID.
And now she was here, trying to decide what she was supposed to do. Get a drink? Or was she supposed to wait for someone to offer her a drink?
Taylor felt very out of her depth, and was kinda hating it.
She sighed. No, she had to take this seriously. That kind of passive thinking had never served her well in the past. Better to be the person doing the offering, than waste time hoping someone would read her mind and approach her.
Looking around, she spied a girl around her age sitting by herself, drink nearly empty. Freckles, a mess of curly brown hair. She was pretty, in a next-door neighbour sort of way.
She also looked heartachingly lonely. In a way that forcibly reminded Taylor of herself before she joined the Undersiders.
Before she overthought it she found herself walking up to the girl.
"Can I get you a drink?" she asked, trying her best not to feel embarrassed.
The girl immediately looked up at her, something defensive shuttering in her eyes.
"Or I can leave you alone, if you want. Just thought you might prefer company," Taylor added awkwardly.
"... no. A drink would be nice, thanks. I'll take a beer," the girl mumbled.
Taylor smiled, and gave a nod.
A couple of minutes later, she was sitting down with two beers next to the girl.
"My name's Taylor," she offered, handing the drink over.
"Nice to meet you," the girl said.
There was a pause, before Taylor realised the girl wasn't saying anything else.
"... what's yours?" she prompted pointedly. The girl startled, like she hadn't expected that question.
"Oh! Umm. A—Aaaaileen. Aileen," the girl stuttered.
Okay that was absolutely a false name, Taylor thought with amusement. Still, she wasn't judging. Wasn't exactly safe to be known as gay in the Bay.
"Nice to meet you, Aileen," Taylor grinned.
Suddenly the girl was looking her over with renewed interest, biting her lip. "Sorry, let me start again. My name's Aileen, wanna make out?"
6 weeks later
Taylor vomited harshly into the toilet. Fuck, she was not feeling good today.
After washing out her mouth she stumbled into the kitchen of the Undersider's base, collapsing into a chair.
"You look like shit," Alec said bluntly.
"I feel it," Taylor grumbled, "Lisa can I have a coffee if you're making?"
Lisa was staring at Taylor with wide eyes, her face pale. Taylor felt herself quickly become alert, recognising the expression.
"What is it?" she asked urgently.
"Taylor... you're pregnant," Lisa choked out.
Taylor blinked, her thoughts stuttering for a moment.
"... no I'm not," she said blankly.
"You are. I'm sure," Lisa insisted.
"No, I'm not. You need to sleep with a guy to be pregnant. I haven't. It's not possible," Taylor explained, trying not to feel panicked. Lisa's power wasn't often wrong. And she should already know that.
"You haven't—oh fuck, I know who the father is. Fuck," Lisa was groaning, rubbing her temples.
"There isn't a father because I'm not pregnant Lisa. I don't have any weird blackouts, so unless I was fucking raped in my sleep, which I am very sure you would have caught, I cannot be pregnant," Taylor growled out.
"The father is Panacea. You slept with Panacea and she gave you a fucking baby—oh my god, I didn't even realise she could do that, fuck. Talk about a breach of ethics," Lisa said, pouring herself a piping hot coffee and downing it like a shot.
Taylor went cold.
The girl from the bar..?
It took her a moment to remember the name. Aileen. Except Aileen had been a fake name.
"I slept with Panacea?" she asked weakly.
"You're having a baby with Panacea," Lisa said bluntly, passing a black coffee over to Taylor.
Taylor never had her coffee black, but she downed it anyway.
There was a pause, as she took in what Lisa just said.
"I'm really pregnant?" She finally asked, doubt creeping in.
Lisa grimaced, giving her a sympathetic expression as she nodded.
"Lisa," she asked, her voice feeling uncharacteristically small, "how the fuck can I be pregnant? I slept with a girl."
"Panacea's power is broader than she lets on. I'm sorry Taylor, I would have warned you if I knew—"
"I just—I enjoyed it, you know? You were right about me. And lesbian relationships, one of the main benefits is you don't accidentally get pregnant," Taylor babbled, her insects swarming noisily. "At least they had that going for them. And now I'm pregnant anyway?" her voice cracked.
Lisa winced. "I'm really sorry," she repeated softly.
She'd been the one to push Taylor into trying it in the first place.
Taylor took a shaky breath, trying to calm down. She knew this wasn't Lisa's fault, not really. It wasn't fair to take it out on her.
There was definitely someone who did deserve her ire though.
"New Wave are open capes, right? Do you know her real name? She just called herself Aileen when I was with her," Taylor said, pushing down the vulnerability she felt. She could deal with it later.
She wanted to have a chat with the girl who had apparently violated her trust.
"Amy Dallon. She's the same age as us. Claims her power is healing, but she's a full on biokinetic, arbitrary manipulation of organic matter. Not sure if that includes dead stuff or not," Lisa explained, already making another coffee.
"Can you find me her address?" Taylor asked.
Lisa wordlessly started writing it down on a notepad, before ripping out the page and handing it to her. "Go after school hours, but before 7. That's when Brandish gets home, she'd just be trouble."
"Do you know if—"
There was suddenly a popping sound. Both girls looked at Alec, where he was standing by the microwave. Cooking a bowl of popcorn.
"What?" he blinked innocently.
He did not manage to outrun the swarm of bees.
"Amy, there's some girl for you at the door!" Vicky called.
Amy frowned, before groaning. Vicky should already know not to accept visitors asking for Amy. But she always chucked them her way if they were persistent, and it was an absolute pain in the neck.
Grumpily she stomped downstairs.
"What!?" she said loudly, pulling open the front door. Then she blinked.
It was the girl from the other night.
If Amy was honest she didn't remember that much from that night, she'd been pretty drunk by the end of it. Which she kind of regretted, it had been the first time she'd actually pulled together the courage to sleep with someone.
The girl must have worked out who she was, and now was here to blackmail her into some sort of healing, she thought bleakly. Or maybe thought that a one night stand meant she could jump the waiting list.
"No I will not heal you and/or your relative. You can sign up for the waiting list on the New Wave website," she stated by rote.
The girl looked... furious. "We need to talk," she growled out.
Hmm. No.
"Nope, bye," she said blankly, attempting to slam the door.
The girl put her foot in the way, blocking it.
Amy huffed. "You need to leave. I will put you on the blacklist if you keep persisting."
"We. Need. To talk." the girl repeated, her expression even more furious. "This is a conversation you'll want to have in private."
Amy hesitated, before sighing. Usually the threat of blacklisting was enough to put people off.
Figures she slept with one of the crazies. The girl had probably just pretended not to recognise her.
Still, probably fastest to just let the girl say whatever she thought was so important.
"Fine," she bit out. Vicky would come looking if she took more than few minutes anyway, so it hardly mattered.
Stepping out the door, the girl led her a little away from the house, enough that nobody would be overhearing them.
Then the girl turned around.
"I'm pregnant. You're the father," she said flatly.
Amy blinked, before snorting. Not what she'd been expecting, but whatever.
She reached out to grab the girl's hand, to check if she was even pregnant. "No I'm not. You're—" oh shit, she did recognise that DNA.
Fuck that was her work. The embryo had been engineered to hell and back, but yeah that was—
The girl pulled her hand out of her grip like it was on fire.
"Oh shit," Amy choked out, bluescreening for a moment.
She'd gotten a girl pregnant.
That was—that broke her rules so hard. It—
Oh god, Amy was sixteen. She wasn't ready to have a kid. Nowhere close to ready.
"Would you mind explaining why the fuck you decided it was okay to give me a goddamn fucking baby?" the girl growled, and Amy couldn't deny she was a bit intimidated.
"I—I don't know!" she stuttered out, "I was drunk, I don't remember—"
"You don't remember fucking impregnating me!?" the girl shouted loudly.
Fuck, she was being too loud, what if Vicky heard that—
"I don't know!" Amy babbled, shaking her head in denial, "I mean it's my work so I must have but—"
"Your work? It's your fucking baby you bitch!"
"Just—just stop a second! I need to think," Amy wasn't lying, she really couldn't remember that much. She knew she slept with the girl, she remembered enjoying it, but...
"I can—I can get rid of it if you want," Amy said, despite abortions being super not on the list of services she offered.
The girl stepped back in surprise, her expression stuttering for a moment. "No. I—I hadn't thought about it yet. I'd need to—"
There was a pause, as they both faced the question. Then suddenly the girl turned around and started walking away, like she hadn't just dropped a bomb on Amy's entire life.
"Wait!" Amy said desperately.
"What?" The girl said, turning slightly. Her expression had closed off.
"I—" shit Amy hadn't thought of what to say, "You're a parahuman. Parian, right?"
It had been her best guess. Right height, and Amy had heard rumours about her being gay.
The girl stared at her, before suddenly chuckling.
And then insects started crawling out of her hair, and Amy's stomach dropped.
"No, Amy. I am not Parian," she said, before turning and walking off.
Amy just stood there, staring blankly.
Oh fuck.
"You what?" Vicky asked, disbelief colouring her voice.
"I slept with Skitter and got her pregnant," Amy said, her foot tapping nervously on the floor as she sat on the bed.
"But—you're both girls. You like girls?" Vicky said, utterly baffled.
"Yes I like girls, not the fucking point Vicky! I think I used my powers on her on accident," Amy said, biting her thumb anxiously.
"You accidentally used your power to get Skitter pregnant?" It didn't sound less crazy coming from Vicky.
"I went to a gay bar like a month ago. I just wanted to, you know, experiment or something. Fuck, what do I do?" Amy said, despair leaking into her voice.
"My sister slept with Skitter. And gave her a baby..." Vicky said, still trying to process what she was being told. "How do you give someone a baby by accident? Sneeze and woops, accidentally built a fetus?"
Amy groaned. "Vicky!"
Vicky blinked, snapping back to the current conversation. "Well uhh. Is she going to get an abortion do you know?"
"She said she needed to think about it," Amy mumbled.
"Uhh. I guess start thinking of baby names? Is it a boy or a girl?" Vicky said blankly.
"A girl obviously. No Y chromosome to work with," Amy said bleakly, "and what the fuck do you mean baby names?"
"Well, there's not much else you can do," Vicky shrugged, "unless you want to tell mum. And we both know that is an absolute stupid idea."
Amy recoiled at the idea. Yeah, there was no way that would go well.
"What do people usually do when they get pregnant?" Vicky asked thoughtfully.
"Normally you get checked at Obstetrics. But I already checked her, the fetus and her are fine," Amy said automatically.
"Oh wait, if you slept with her does that mean you know Skitter's identity?" Vicky said with surprise, before realising, "Wait shit, I know her identity. Well, her face at least. I met her when she came to the door."
Amy rolled her eyes. "Yes, I know her identity. No, we will not be doing anything with that information."
Vicky gave her a questioning look.
"She's carrying my baby, Vicky," Amy said pointedly, "I'm not risking anything to do with her identity."
Vicky nodded, suddenly understanding. "You're gonna try and be part of the kid's life then? Assuming she keeps it?"
"Of course. I'm not one of those scumbags who doesn't take responsibility for their actions," Amy scoffed.
Though the decision felt very different from this side of things. Amy had always written off absent fathers off as the scum of the earth. But it was a lot harder to say that when she realised it would mean looking after a kid at sixteen.
Fuck, she still lived with her parents. With Carol. Had been expecting to for at least a couple more years until she graduated. She had no job, or not one that made any money at least. How on earth could she look after a baby?
No. Skitter—Taylor might decide to get rid of the baby after all. She probably would, in fact. Amy had seen her body, she was the same age as her—what teenager would be willing to destroy their life that way?
It would all be fine. Amy just had to remember not to sleep with anyone drunk in the future—
"Oh shit, I'm gonna be an aunt!" Vicky interrupted her thoughts, grinning manically.
Amy was not fine.
Taylor closed the door quietly, before walking into the kitchen.
She halted, when she saw Lisa sitting there, looking at her with an apologetic expression.
There was a box of pills on the table.
Taylor clenched her fist, before snatching the box from the table and walking to the bathroom.
She sat on the toilet and looked at the packaging. Abortion pills. Apparently produced by Dragon.
She knew she had to do it. Taylor was in no way prepared to have a kid, she was barely starting her life. And she was a villain, there wasn't a single profession worse for raising a kid. It was unsafe, and could lead to them getting targeted. A huge point of vulnerability.
She went to the sink. Pulling the set of pills from the packaging, she snapped one out, holding it in her hand.
She fidgeted with the pill.
She knew she had to do it. It was rational, it made sense.
She knew, but she didn't want to. Fuck, why? Keeping it was an objectively stupid decision. It meant changing her life in a profoundly negative way, putting herself under incredible stress and responsibility. Ruining her ability to be free, to date, to live as she wanted.
Except—except she didn't know that it would be negative. She was just assuming it would be.
And that not knowing was eating her.
Taylor threw the opened packet on the table in front of Lisa.
"You knew what I'd choose," she said, frustration leaking into her voice.
"Yep," Lisa said bluntly.
"Why even buy them then?"
"Because it still had to be your choice," Lisa said softly.
Taylor rested her head on the table, feeling profoundly stressed. Lisa pushed a cup of tea gently towards her.
"It's going to change everything," Taylor grumbled, grabbing the cup and cradling it between her hands.
"Yeah, if you were a normal teenager I'd probably be recommending the opposite. But Taylor, in case you forgot," Lisa leaned forward, something excited in her eyes, "you're Skitter. I'm absolutely certain you can do whatever you put your mind to."
Taylor breathed out. Lisa was right. She wasn't weak anymore, she'd found her place in life. She was one of the most feared villains in the city, and she had earned that title.
Pregnancy was going to be a bitch though. Taylor felt very overwhelmed at even the thought of it.
"You have her number?" She asked out loud.
"Of course," Lisa said, almost insulted she'd even had to ask.
Taylor held her hand out. Lisa handed her phone over, already dialling.
"Hello?" came Amy's voice.
"I'm keeping it," Taylor said shortly, "do you wanna be part of their life?"
"I—yes. Yes. I do," Amy stuttered.
"Alright. I'll text you," Taylor said, before hanging up.
She shook her head, getting her thoughts together. "Alright, got a few plans to make. Oh, Lisa—"
"It's a girl," Lisa answered before she even asked.
Taylor nodded slowly. She was having a baby girl. Okay.
Time to sort out what she needed to do.
Amy stared blankly at the phone for a full minute.
"Well?" Vicky finally prompted, not able to wait any longer.
Amy looked up at her, shell shocked. "I-I'm going to be a mom," she stammered out.
"WOOO Yessssss! Auntie Vicky here I come!" Vicky cheered, spinning in the air.
"Girls! What's all that noise!?" Carol called from downstairs.
"Oh shit, nothing mom!" Vicky called, wincing.
Amy was still staring at her phone, no longer registering the conversation.
She was a parent. She was going to have a baby.
She'd need to—to change diapers. And feed them. No, wait Skitt—Taylor would be doing that. She was the one pregnant, she'd be the one breastfeeding.
Was Amy supposed to also breastfeed? Was it bad if she didn't? She could probably do it, wouldn't be hard. Make some pills with estatrol, prolactin, progest—no fuck.
What was she even thinking, that was stupid... or at least not immediately relevant. She supposed she could offer it later, if Taylor wanted.
Did she want to breastfeed?
"Oh fuck, I'm going to have a baby," Amy whimpered.
She barely registered Vicky's arms wrapping around her.